Israel, New Zealand Resolve Diplomatic Spat Over New Envoy

Israel and New Zealand have resolved a diplomatic dispute that had prevented New Zealand's new ambassador from taking up his post for more than half a year.

Israel last September prevented Ambassador Jonathan Curr from presenting his credentials after learning that he would also serve as New Zealand's envoy to the Palestinians.

At the time, Israel said it had a "well-known policy" of not accrediting diplomats who are also accredited to the Palestinian Authority.

New Zealand's foreign ministry announced in February that it had appointed a separate envoy to the Palestinians, effectively ending the spat.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin's office says Curr is scheduled to present his credentials on Thursday.

Israel responsible for Gaza strikes on UN schools and shelters, inquiry finds

Israel was directly responsible for the targeting of seven UN premises used as civilian shelters during the 2014 Gaza war, an inquiry ordered by secretary general Ban Ki-moon has concluded.

Related: Gaza crisis: a closer look at Israeli strikes on UNRWA schools

Releasing the report on Monday Ban condemned the attacks – in which some 44 Palestinians died and 227 others were injured – “as a matter of the utmost gravity” and said “those who looked to them for protection and who sought and were granted shelter there had their hopes and trust denied.”

Ban insisted that UN locations were “inviolable”.

Ban ordered the inquiry in November after thousands of buildings were destroyed and at least 223 Gaza schools, either run by the UN refugee agency or the Islamic militant group Hamas government, were hit in the fighting.

Gaza: nothing more shameful than attacking sleeping children, says Ban Ki-moon. Link to video

Israeli diplomats had exerted pressure on the UN to delay publication of the report until the completion of Israel’s own investigations of the attacks – conducted by the Israeli military advocate general Danny Efroni.

The inquiry, which examined both forensic evidence and testimonies of UN staff in Gaza during the 50-day war last summer, concluded all seven incidents were attributable to the Israel Defence Forces.

Ban added: “I will work with all concerned and spare no effort to ensure that such incidents will never be repeated.”

In his letter Ban also said that Palestinian militant groups had put UN schools in Gaza at risk by hiding weapons in three locations that were not being used as shelters.
“The fact that they were used by those involved in the fighting to store their weaponry and, in two cases, probably to fire from is unacceptable,” Ban said.

The attacks on UN schools being used as shelters were among some of the most controversial incidents of the war as UN premises were on a list of sensitive, protected sites.

Related: 'The world stands disgraced' - Israeli shelling of school kills at least 15

In one of the most serious incidents, the UNRWA school in Jabaliya was struck by Israeli fire, killing 20 people and wounding dozens.

In the aftermath of the attack Israel claimed – including in a report into the incident – that soldiers near the school were had come under fire.

In another incident that hit a UN school in Beit Hanoun in which 15 Palestinians were killed in the playground as they awaited evacuation and dozens more injured. Israeli officials had originally tried to suggested that the attack had been due to a Hamas munitions falling short.

The UN inquiry – separate form an inquiry launched by the UN Human Rights Council – was headed by retired general Patrick Cammaert, a former officer in the Dutch military and included military and legal experts.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed during the Gaza conflict last July and August. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed by rockets and attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

The details of the contents of the 207-page board of inquiry are confidential and only Ban’s covering letter has been made public. Conceding that the report was of “considerable interest” he said he had taken the decision to release a summary of the inquiry’s findings.

The report was compiled from analysis of weapons, medical reports, photographs and video footage, and submissions and testimonies both by UN staff and other organisations.

Ban thanked Israel for its cooperation in preparing the report and allowing investigators to access Gaza.

Ban wrote: “I deplore the fact that at least 44 Palestinians were killed as a result of Israeli actions and at least 227 injured at United Nations premises being used as emergency shelters. United Nations premises are inviolable and should be places of safety, particularly in a situations of armed conflict.”

He added: “I note this is the second time during my tenure as secretary general that I have been obliged to establish a board of inquiry into incidents involving United Nations premises and personnel in Gaza that have occurred during the course of tragic conflicts in the Gaza Strip.

“Once again I must stress my profound and continuing concern for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and Israel, and their right to live in peace and security, free from the threat of violence and terrorism.”

When Ban visited Gaza in October, he said the destruction was “beyond description” and “much more serious” than what he witnessed in the Palestinian territory in 2009 in the aftermath of a previous Israel-Hamas war.

Ban said Monday he has established a group of senior managers to look into the inquiry’s recommendations.

In a statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said: “All of the incidents attributed by the report to Israel have already been subject to thorough examinations, and criminal investigations have been launched where relevant. ... Israel makes every effort to avoid harm to sensitive sites.”

Nahshon’s statement added: “The executive summary of the report clearly documents the exploitation by terrorist organisations of UN facilities in the Gaza Strip.”

A number of questions remain unaddressed in the summary, not least the issue of what communications there were between UN staff and the Israeli military in particular ahead of the attack on the school in Beit Hanoun when UN staff are understood to have communicated to Israeli forces their intention to bus out civilians who were waiting for evacuation at the time of the attack.

Also unaddressed is why Israeli forces fired on designated protected locations outside of the principle of immediate self-defence when they were aware of concentrations of civilians sheltering there.

Berlin Police Sorry for Stopping Israel Flag Display at Game

Berlin's police are apologizing for preventing the display of the Israeli flag during a soccer game in the German capital.

During Sunday's second division game between Berlin's 1. FC Union and FC Ingolstadt, police ordered fans to remove an Israeli flag they had unfurled in support of Amog Cohen, an Israeli player with the Ingolstadt team.

Police president Klaus Kandt said Monday that ordering the fans to put the flag away was a mistake by the police officer on the scene who interpreted the display of the flag as a prohibited political statement.

Kandt said that "It's the police's job to protect the freedom of expression. The demand to roll up the flag was the incorrect decision for which I apologize to those concerned."

Israel Advances Plans for New Construction in East Jerusalem

Israel has given the final go-ahead for new construction in a Jewish area of east Jerusalem — the area of the city the Palestinians demand as the capital of a future state.

The Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now says it is the first time in nearly a year that Israel has issued building tenders in east Jerusalem.

The Israel Land Authority published tenders for 77 housing units in Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev. Israel considers both areas — already home to tens of thousands of Israelis — to be neighborhoods of its capital. The international community considers them settlements.

Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it.

Lior Amihai of Peace Now said Monday that construction could begin within months.

Israel Says It Launched Airstrike at Syrian Border

Israeli Forces Kill Two Knife-Wielding Palestinians: Cops

Israeli Police: 2 Palestinians Shot Dead After Knife Attacks

Israeli police officers on Saturday shot dead two knife-wielding Palestinians in response to separate stabbing attacks against Israeli officers, police said.

In the first incident, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a 17-year-old east Jerusalem resident named Ali Mohammed Abu Ghannam approached a roadblock with a butcher's knife and tried to attack officers there. Samri said officers shot Abu Ghannam dead after he refused to lay down his weapon. Dozens of Palestinian youth clashed with police forces following the incident. The youths hurled rocks at the police, who responded with tear gas.

Later, in the West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian attacked a police officer there, stabbing him several times in his head and chest. The officer was evacuated to a hospital and was in stable condition. Sabri said other officers on the scene opened fire on the assailant and killed him.

The attacks come a week after Israeli authorities say a 37-year-old Palestinian man intentionally rammed his car into a group of Israeli Jews near Jerusalem, killing one man and seriously injuring a woman.

Israel has seen a number of isolated vehicular and stabbing attacks in Jerusalem in recent months, raising fears of a renewed wave of Palestinian violence like the one that gripped the country a decade ago.

Israelis Honor War Dead With Somber Memorial Day

Israelis have come to a standstill as sirens wailed on Memorial Day, honoring fallen soldiers, those killed in fighting with Palestinians and victims of militant attacks.

Across the country, Israelis stopped what they were doing at 11 a.m. Wednesday and stood silently for two minutes to honor and remember the dead.

Israel says 23,320 security personnel have been killed since 1860, when Jews began moving back to the area of present-day Israel. Of those, 116 died last year, including 67 soldiers during a 50-day war in Gaza.

It's one of the most somber dates on the Israeli calendar. Places of entertainment shut down while radio and TV air documentaries about the fallen.

The sad atmosphere ends sharply at sundown when Israelis joyfully take to the streets for Independence Day celebrations.

Church Official in Israel Says Cemetery Vandalized

A Catholic Church official in Israel says a Christian cemetery has been desecrated, with graves damaged and crosses smashed.

Wadie Abunassar said some 20 gravestones at the cemetery in Kufr Birim in northern Israel were found vandalized early Wednesday. He said some were shattered, with pieces of stone strewn about.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Thursday that police have opened an investigation. But Abunassar said the church is concerned that no one will be held accountable.

A number of Christian sites, including churches and monasteries, have been vandalized in recent years in attacks by suspected Jewish extremists. Critics charge that Israel often fails to apprehend and prosecute the assailants.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin this week met with top church officials and denounced violence on holy sites.

Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Site Cuts Kim Kardashian From Photo

An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish news website has cut Kim Kardashian — one of the world's most photographed women — from a photo taken of her in Jerusalem this week.

The original photo of Kardashian, her husband Kanye West and Jerusalem's Mayor Nir Barkat was altered to put Kardashian behind a restaurant receipt. Kardashian was blurred in another.

Nissim Ben Haim, an editor at the Kikar HaShabbat website, said Wednesday they removed Kardashian because she is a "pornographic symbol" who contradicts ultra-Orthodox values.

In an article chiding Barkat for dining with them at a non-kosher restaurant, Kardashian was referred to as "West's wife."

Within the insular Ultra-Orthodox community, pictures of women often aren't shown out of modesty. In January, an ultra-Orthodox newspaper removed German chancellor Angela Merkel from a photo.

In West Bank Raid, Israeli Troops Arrest 29 for Hamas Links

The Israeli military says it has arrested 29 Palestinians suspected of links to the militant Hamas group in an overnight raid in the West Bank.

Palestinian security officials said Wednesday the suspects were nabbed in and near the city of Nablus.

The military says the raid was conducted jointly with police forces and the Israeli Shin Bet security service but provided no further details. Israeli media claimed some of those arrested were planning attacks against Israel.

Hamas spokesman Husam Badran says the arrests reflected Israeli concern over what he described as the "growing power of Hamas despite years of crackdown campaigns."

Hamas rules the Gaza Strip and has a much smaller presence in the West Bank, which is run by its rival President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Putin: Missiles-for-Iran Move Doesn't Threaten Israel

U.S., Israel Slam End of Russian Ban on Missiles to Iran

Gaza police seize door bearing Banksy drawing amid ownership dispute

Palestinian police confiscated from a Gaza graffiti artist on Thursday a bombed-out doorway bearing a Banksy painting after the original owner complained of being swindled into selling it cheap.

The artist Belal Khaled had paid 700 shekels ($175) for the image of a goddess holding her head in her hand, which had been spray-painted on Rabea Darduna’s iron-and-brick doorway as it stood among the ruins of his home, destroyed in the July-August war with Israel.

Banksy, a British street artist famed for his ironic murals in unexpected places, visited Gaza this year and left several paintings on the outside walls of buildings, some of them ruins. His pieces regularly sell for more than $500,000.

Khaled, 23, told Reuters that police seized the painting from his home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. They were accompanied by Darduna, a civil servant.

“The policemen took the door away and they told me it would be held in accordance with a court order because there was a lawsuit against me,” Khaled said. “I am the true owner of the door now, and I will seek to establish this in court.”

A police spokesman had no immediate comment, but Darduna’s lawyer, Mohammed Rihan, confirmed the claims to the Bansky painting were under court review.

“I will seek to return the door to its true owner, Rabea Darduna. My client was cheated,” Rihan said.

After buying the painting from Darduna, Khaled said last week he had wanted to protect the Banksy mural from neglect and that he had always wanted to own a work by the reclusive artist, who is from Bristol in the west of England and has never revealed his true identity.

Khaled has said he had no plans to sell the doorway “at the present time”. A Banksy mural painted on a shop in London in 2013 sold at a private auction for $1.1 million.

Embassy: Israeli Killed in Berlin Sought Help to Get Home

Israel's embassy in Berlin says an Israeli man who was found killed in a ruined church had approached it last week to seek help in buying a plane ticket home.

The body of the man, who police said Thursday has been identified as 22-year-old Yosi Damari, was found by passers-by early Sunday morning in central Berlin. He had suffered massive head injuries.

A Berlin rabbi has said Damari approached the Jewish community on Friday asking for food and a place to sleep. The Israeli Embassy said Damari contacted it the same day seeking help in contacting his family so that they could help him buy a plane ticket to Israel.

Berlin police said that they believe he was killed on Saturday evening and they are investigating "in all directions."

Body of Israeli Girl Found After Thai Boat Catches Fire

The search team on Thursday found the body of a 12-year-old Israeli girl, the only fatality from a tourist boat that caught fire in the Andaman Sea in the country's southwest, Thai officials said.

The rest of about 110 passengers, mostly foreign tourists, and crew were rescued on Wednesday after the boat sank in flames off the coast of Krabi province.

The girl's body was recovered by a team of up to 50 navy, marine police and national park officers, who were searching for her since the sinking, Krabi deputy governor Narong Woonchew, who headed the search mission, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The girl was vacationing with her parents and was believed to be in the restroom when the fire broke out on the Ao Nang Princess boat, according to the police.

Narong said police were investigating the cause of the fire, which engulfed the ferry that was traveling from Krabi to Phuket, two of Thailand's most popular beach resort areas.

Photos taken by rescuers, including the Krabi Marine Police, showed the abandoned vessel burning down almost to the waterline before sinking.

Police Col. Sompong Thip-apakul of the Krabi police station said on Wednesday that the investigation of the fire would be difficult because the vessel had sunk.

Thailand's tourist industry, which welcomes more than 20 million people a year, has suffered a black eye in recent years due to domestic political violence and several high-profile killings and unexplained accidental deaths of Westerners, but serious marine accidents are uncommon.

Two Israeli Soldiers Knifed in West Bank

Official: Israeli Fire Killed UN Peacekeeper in January

An Israeli security official says the Israeli military was responsible for the death of a Spanish U.N. peacekeeper during an outbreak of violence between Israel and Hezbollah militants on the tense Israel-Lebanon border in January.

The official said on Tuesday that Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was accidentally killed by Israeli artillery following a Hezbollah attack that killed two Israeli soldiers.

The official says Israel did not intend to harm U.N. forces. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to reporters.

After the incident, Spain's U.N. ambassador blamed Israel and the U.N. Security Council condemned the killing. A U.N. diplomat said Israel apologized to Spain, but Israel had not publicly admitted responsibility.

Israel's military presented its investigation of the incident to the Spanish army.

Israeli Premier: Nuclear Deal Will 'Pave the Way' for Iran

Israel's prime minister criticized the deal expected to emerge from nuclear talks in Switzerland on Tuesday, saying it will "pave the way" for Iran to have the ability to build an atomic bomb in little time.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his criticism at a ceremony welcoming the incoming members of Israel's new parliament. Netanyahu has been a vocal critic of the negotiations between Iran and six world powers, led by the U.S., saying the expected deal would fail to keep the Islamic Republic's suspect nuclear intentions in check.

Accusing Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, Netanyahu said the emerging deal would leave intact much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, including underground research facilities, a plutonium reactor and advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium.

"Iran's breakout time to have the tools to make a nuclear weapon won't be years, as was said in the beginning," he said. "In our estimate, it will be reduced to perhaps a year, most likely much less than that."

After six days of marathon talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, Iran and the world powers were expected to issue a general statement later Tuesday agreeing to continue the negotiations in hopes of reaching a final deal by the end of June.

Netanyahu's criticism has raised tensions with the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally. Earlier this month, he infuriated the White House by giving a speech to the U.S. Congress railing against the expected deal.

Netanyahu tried to play down the tensions, saying that Israel values its alliance with the U.S. and that "even close relatives" sometimes have disagreements.

Netanyahu Calls Iran Agreement a Threat to Israel's Survival

Eyewitness: Gaza Strip

Israel Arrests Female Palestinian Lawmaker

Israel has arrested a Palestinian lawmaker from a left-wing militant group for disobeying an Israeli order restricting her movement in the West Bank.

The Israeli military says it arrested Khalida Jarrar, a senior political leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, early Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah due to "substantial concerns about the safety and security of the region."

Her husband, Ghassan Jarrar, says she was arrested from their Ramallah home. She had long flaunted the Israeli ban.

Last year, the military confined her movement to the city of Jericho and its surroundings. The army said the restraining order was based on her "incitement and involvement in terror."

The military says it is questioning her but has not yet decided whether to press charges.

Gaza Man Feels Duped After Selling Banksy Mural for $175

Gaza man 'duped' into selling Banksy work

A man in Gaza says he has been duped into selling a valuable work by British graffiti artist Banksy for less than £120 to a local artist.

The street artist is believed to have sneaked into Gaza earlier this year, leaving behind four murals, including one drawn on a metal door that depicted the Greek goddess Niobe cowering against the rubble of a destroyed house. The painting, titled Bomb Damage, was drawn on a door, the last remaining part of a two-storey house belonging to the Dardouna family in northern Gaza.

Unaware of the work’s value, Rabie Dardouna, 33, said on Tuesday that he was tricked into selling the door to an eager local artist for just 700 shekels, or about £118. Banksy’s works have been valued as high as hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The now empty doorway on the rubble of a building destroyed in last summer’s Israel-Hamas war. Photograph: Adel Hana/AP

“I did not know that it was this valuable. I heard it can be sold for millions,” Dardouna said. “Now I want the door back.”

The Gaza artist who bought the door, Belal Khaled, said he did not mean to trick anyone. He said he just wanted to protect the painting and had no intention of profiting.

“I bought the painting to protect its artistic value and preserve it from damage,” Khaled told the Associated Press. “Another reason is to display it in other places as well. I don’t have any monetary interest in this.”

He said he has been in touch with Banksy’s representatives, hoping to get clearance to showcase the mural in Gaza art exhibitions.

Palestinians walk past a mural of a playful kitten, thought to be painted by Banksy. Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

On Facebook Palestinian activists and journalists have accused the buyer of tricking the Dardouna family while others have defended him for buying it legally. Khaled agreed to show reporters the mural on condition that its location not be revealed.

The Dardouna home was one of 18,000 destroyed in the 50-day war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers last summer. Banksy is a critic of Israel and he has created works in Gaza and the West Bank meant to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians.

Other Banksy works spotted in Gaza were a mural of a kitten and of children swinging from a military watchtower.

A Palestinian child walks past a mural of children using an Israeli army watch tower as a swing ride, said to have been painted by Banksy. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images

Banksy’s publicist, Jo Brooks, said at the time that the artist entered Gaza through a tunnel from Egypt, though such a route is extremely difficult and dangerous.

On a previous visit to the region he drew a painting of a girl pulled upward by balloons on Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.